Oh, I’m swooning. Christina Hendricks from “Mad Men” shook up some cocktails with Martha Stewart this morning and she’s so lovely it should be a crime.  Girlfriend is glowing with happiness after her recent marriage and even handled Martha’s weird comments, like how Christina looks older on TV, with Joan Holloway-style grace. Also, her new husband proposed with a chandelier!

“I read Sex and the Single Girl and Sex and the Office before [both written by former Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief, Helen Gurley Brown, in 1962 and 1965, respectively] — not before the pilot, because I didn’t know about it at that point — but after the pilot, and before we started season one. They were huge inspirations. I started turning down pages of things that I thought would be useful or relevant, and then I realized every single page was turned down. [Laughs] Tons of great tidbits that, you know, even if no one else catches them or something, that I’m thinking of.  ... Like the way you prepare your desk. Making sure there are little candies out because that’s enticing. Making sure that your slip shows just a tiny, tiny bit when you’re sitting down because that’s alluring.”

— Christina Hendricks, the actress who plays Joan Holloway on “Mad Men,” on where she gathered inspiration for the role. Read more of her thoughts on Joan in a great interview with New York magazine’s Vulture blog.

I’ve written here before about how Joan Holloway makes me feel better about myself. With her flame hair, pale skin and curvy figure, she and I could be sisters. It’s been a real boost to my confidence to see someone who looks like me get so much positive attention for her appearance. It’s been especially gratifying to watch Christina Hendricks, the actress who plays Joan, really own her curves in an industry that preys on insecurities and exploits anything that differs from the norm (in this case, stick-thin figures). So I was a little confused when I read an article in the Daily Mail this morning that accuses Hendricks of succumbing to pressures of the “body fascists” by losing weight. As proof of her drastic weight loss, the paper presents a photo of Hendricks taken at last week’s Emmy Awards where she looks, to me, just as curvy and lovely as ever. “She’d lost weight from her face, arms and bottom,” Hendricks’ weight-watcher accuses, “and her glorious hourglass shape had changed into something dangerously close to the typical Hollywood lolly-stick with breasts.” Wha?? Was the author seeing the same photo that I am? If Hendricks is “dangerously close to typical Hollywood,” then I’m lunching at the Ivy and giving crotch-shots to the paparazzi swarming outside my limo.

“I know, I know. It’s hard to hurt her, but I kind of feel she’s frequently hoisted on whatever she’s told to be. I still think she could have had the best relationship of her life with that roommate. That, by the way, is probably not the first time that happened to Joan. I realized that at the end of that first season. I’ve heard from many fans that they have no leanings that way but could probably not keep their hands off her.”

—“Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner on Joan Holloway’s lesbian/bicurious fans [NJ.com via RKB]

As a redhead, I’ve often been told I resemble, well, anyone else who also happens to have red — or even reddish — hair. When I had a pixie cut, people told me all the time I looked like a young Mia Farrow from “Rosemary’s Baby,” and before that, when my hair was longer, I always got compared to Lauren Ambrose from “Six Feet Under.” About two years ago people started telling me I looked like a character on a new series called “Mad Men.” I’d never seen the show, but a friend soon emailed me a picture of Joan Holloway and wrote “Your doppelganger!” in the subject line. I had to admit — we did kind of look a little alike.

If there’s one thing Mad Men fans know about the show, it is that nothing happens by accident. So I’m sure creator Matt Weiner intended Joan Holloway‘s rape at the hands of her douche-y doctor fiancé to make a point: in the 1960s, the concept of “date rape” did not exist and people scarcely spoke openly about rape.

But even though it’s 2009 now, Christina Hendricks, the actress who plays Joan, has noticed the point still appears to be lost on people. Hendricks told New York magazine:

“What’s astounding is when people say things like, ‘Well, you know that episode where Joan sort of got raped?’ Or they say rape and use quotation marks with their fingers. ‘I’m like, ‘What is that you are doing? Joan got raped!’ It illustrates how similar people are today, because we’re still questioning whether it’s a rape. It’s almost like, ‘Why didn’t you just say bad date?’ ”

“Sort of got raped”? How does one “sort of” get raped? Is that like being a little pregnant?

Amy Adams visited “Good Morning America” in Times Square, looking a lot like her “Mad Men” character, Joan Holloway, in this promo photo. She must be as excited for season three as we are. [NYC, 7/30/09]

“For some reason – and I love this – I keep hearing people say they have had more sex since watching ‘Mad Men.’”

—Christina Hendricks, aka Joan Holloway [Telegraph U.K.]

Most “Mad Men” fans know Christina Hendricks as the sultry bombshell Joan Holloway. Now, fans also know her as actor Geoffrey Arend’s new fiance. But we’re pretty sure most fans don’t know the five following facts about Hendricks.

Last night’s “Mad Men” had an all-too-rare subplot involving Joan and her betrothed, The Handsome Doctor . In a previous episode, Doc’s abusive, douche-tastic tendencies were barely hinted at—“Didn’t you say you were getting me a drink?!”—but this episode confirmed it for any doubters. In one of the most disturbing scenes to have been featured on “Mad Men”, the good doctor forces Joan to have sex with him on the floor of Don Draper’s office despite her repeated protests and attempts to physically dissuade him. Perhaps the saddest and most resonant part of all is when she stops fighting and turns her head to stare fixedly at Don’s coffee table, resigned to her fate.

“I’ve always had a bit of a walk—this girl’s got hips—but on the show it’s exaggerated. The first day, I put on those [retro] undergarments, and I was walking around the office like boom, boom, boom! They called ‘Cut,’ and I turned to [creator Matt Weiner and said, ‘That was Joan.’ And he said, ‘That was Joan.’ It all just dropped into place.”—Christina Hendricks on “Mad Men”‘s Joan Holloway in Page Six Magazine

The other day I asked Catherine, “Do you think I should dye my hair bright red like Joan Holloway on “Mad Men”?” Catherine said, “No” as if the idea was out of the question. I suppose she’s right. I’d need to have the milky white skin that actress Christina Hendricks is blessed with. An added bonus would be to be blessed with this woman’s Botticelli-esque figure, but that’s just dreamin’. Anyway, after the jump, some of Hendrick’s most glorious looks—a little more modern than Holloway’s, of course, but drool-worthy nonetheless.

Now you can take more than style tips—kudos to the genius person who set up the blog “What Would Joan Holloway Do?”, answering oh-so-cerebral reader questions from the redhead’s fictional perspective. Our favorite so far:

How do you deal with a hysterical co-worker? There’s one woman in my office that is always running off to the powder room to sob. I don’t know her, so I feel strange asking her what’s wrong.

You do nothing, sister. Keep your trap shut and your eyes open. The last thing you need to do is show the office that you’re best pals with the tearful girl who can’t keep a secret.

As if I haven’t said it enough, I heart Mad Men and am on the edge of my seat for this Sunday’s season two premiere. I especially love foxy redheaded Queen Bee of the secretaries, Joan Holloway. Her approach to getting ahead at work may not be ours (but then again, we don’t have to contend with 1960’s sexism!), but her style is hot. Embracing her womanly curves, the character always looks chic and well put together, and getting the look yourself, while staying modern, is actually pretty easy. Check out three options we put together, based on Joan’s fashion from last season, after the jump.